Kakashi was not prone to show his emotions, much less to swear loudly. But, considering the recent events, even he could not abstain from uttering a curse, which, though, could be politely regarded as his wondering about the present situation and uncertainty of what to do next. And he had a point, swearing is quite common a reaction to the unexpected and shocking things, and seeing his dead teacher lying before him quite alive, though unconscious, was one of those things. It took Kakashi a few minutes of the intense staring at the boy before his feet to convince himself that he cannot possibly be the late Forth Hokage. Notwithstanding, the boy was almost his look-alike, only some years younger, and his golden hair was shorter than, as Kakashi recalled, that of his teacher's. Besides he also had some strange whisker-like marks on his cheeks, this feature was not connected with the Forth Hokage, but also rang a bell. Kakashi shot a glance at his blond student, who, lying between Sasuke and Sakura, still was not stirring.

'Maa, just what on earth is going on here?' Kakashi thought, creasing his brows. 'He looks just like Naruto, but how is it even possible. And the illusion...'

"Oi, Kakashi, what are we going to do now?" Sasuke's voice sounded irritated as he didn't understand the reason of his teacher looking shell-shocked.

"Wait till they both come to and ask some questions" Kakashi replied as he kneeled down and began to pull out the shurikens holding the string with which the boy was pinned down. Still, as a precaution, he used that same string to fasten the blond's hands behind his back. Then he lifted him and, walking over to where his students were, dropped the boy there under the tree with his back pressed against it.

Presented with the opportunity, Sasuke studied the enemy's face. "Is it just me or does he looks exactly like the dobe?"

"Well, that's what I was thinking" Kakashi smiled through his mask. "I even checked him with my sharingan, but it appears that he doesn't use any henge-like technique at the moment. So, all more the reason to interrogate him and find out what connections he has with Naruto".

What Kakashi didn't tell them was that he had already pretty much got the idea of who that person was. Similarity in the features aside, there were other things hinting that their captive was Uzumaki Naruto. First, Kakashi felt a rather malicious surge of chakra before his illusion was torn apart, and he could not possibly mistook it for someone else's other than that of the Kyuubi. Besides, the boy's behavior - he was rather running away than confronting them. Although one might regard it as cowardice or the enemy being too weak, Kakashi was able to notice that the kidnapper was actually trying to avoid hurting anyone. Well, if he managed to be at least tad bit of an authority in Naruto's eyes than the kid should have learned that one is supposed to protect their comrades no matter what. Then, this guy's behavior could be considered quite Naruto-like. The only remained question was why on earth there are two Narutos. At this point the age difference was a clue, as Kakashi remembered his teacher and Jiraya studying time-travel jutsus. Could Naruto be using one in the future to come back here? Well, everything is possible, still it's too early to put the guard down, even if this is really Naruto from the future and not some imposter, Kakashi could not completely trust him right away. Thus, the jounin came to the conclusion that it is better to know his reasons for kidnapping young Naruto first and then decide what to do about all this time-travel mess themselves, as he doubted that the elders or the root would want this Naruto for something but a guinea pig.

"Shouldn't we just hand him in to the Ambu? The rules say we must report on every suspicious shinobi who has sneaked into the village" Sakura inquired. Although she was a bit curious about the likeness between her teammate and the stranger, the girl still preferred to stick to the rules, not getting herself into some suspicious or possibly rather dangerous situations. And truth to be told, she could probably careless about her blond teammate's problems. He probably was just messing with the guy, making pranks, and thus got into trouble.

"In this case, I doubt that it's a wise decision" Kakashi replied curtly. "Still, remaining here is not wise either. How about we move them to the Uchiha residence?"

"Wh-?" Sasuke was surprised to say the least. "Why there?"

"Well, there's no one else there, which is good, considering that I don't want anyone to know about that guy yet" Kakashi explained, unperturbed by Sasuke's irritated glare. "Besides, isn't it good to have guests once in a while, ne, Sasuke? He won't break your furniture or something, I promise."

"Hn. Whatever" Sasuke sighed, abandoning the idea of glaring his now slightly chuckling teacher to death. Honestly, why people were always thinking it was a good idea to come to the Uchiha district just because no one but Sasuke was living there? This, however, was not quite true as practically no one except for Kakashi and Naruto were hanging there. Even Sakura and the rest of the Sasuke's fan club were mostly too afraid to sneak into the district stalking the Uchiha. Though, in Naruto's case, he was doing it often, the sneaking part, and without Sasuke's approval. When there was nothing better to do, the boy would come to spend time with Sasuke and maybe train, but eventually annoy him at some point so the meeting would just result in a brawl. As for Kakashi, well, he just happened to hide there from his self-declared rival. As long as he would not bother Sasuke too much the young Uchiha heir did not care.

After finishing some preparation, which was arranging the two unconscious boys on Kakashi's and Sasuke's backs respectively, they decided on their formation. To attract less attention Kakashi left first in a poof of grey smoke, and, after waiting a few minutes, his genin team also set off, but instead of using any jutsus, they simply ran into the direction of the village to get to the Uchiha mansion ordinary way – by jumping on the roof tops.

/o/o/o/o/o/o/Scene shifting line/o/o/o/o/o/

Naruto's head felt heavy, he could not even make himself open his eyes, lingering somewhere between consciousness and oblivion. Strangely he felt rather comfortable and warm, though constant impacts as if he was moving somewhere irritated him. Besides there was something else.

'Jees, that tickles...' He fluttered his eyes open, meeting bangs of dark hair, which appeared to be the source of the sensation, caressing his cheek and neck, while the boy who was carrying him moved.

'Eh, what?' Naruto fully came to realizing that he was carried somewhere on Sasuke's back.

"Oi, teme, what the hell?" Naruto felt embarrassed and tried to get down.

"Stop jerking around or I'm gonna drop you!" The Uchiha bit in reply, when, caught by surprise at his teammate's sudden action, he almost slipped from the roof. "We're almost arrived anyway. So let me carry you, it'll be quicker this way."

"Whatever." Naruto decided to leave his complaints for latter. "What happened to the guy?"

"He's with Kakashi"

"And we are…?"

"My place."

"Oh," was Naruto's curt reply before he drifted back to sleep. Sasuke sighed and looked at Sakura, who was following him, but, not getting any reaction out of her, faced forward again. They almost arrived.